New catalyst could improve production of glass alternatives

August 21, 2012

UO chemists' catalyst could improve production of glass alternatives

(Phys.org) -- University of Oregon chemists have identified a catalyst that could dramatically reduce the amount of waste made in the production of methyl methacrylate, a monomer used in the large-scale manufacturing of lightweight, shatter-resistant alternatives to glass such as Plexiglas.

David Tyler, Charles J. and M. Monteith Jacobs Professor of Chemistry, will present his findings Tuesday at the national meeting of the American Chemical Society, Aug. 19-23 in Philadelphia, Penn.

Global production of methyl methacrylate was 4 million metric tons in 2010. Each kilogram produced also yields 2.5 kilograms of ammonium hydrogen sulfate, a corrosive byproduct that is not usable. Disposal of ammonium hydrogen sulfate is extremely energy intensive, consuming 2 percent of the energy used in Texas annually.

Tylers team has identified a catalyst that doesnt produce ammonium hydrogen sulfate. The university is securing a provisional patent for the catalyst.

There were some really fundamental chemical reasons why previous catalysts didnt work with this process, Tyler said. Weve found a catalyst that overcomes all of those objections.

With the identification of a working catalyst, Tyler will focus his research on how to accelerate the conversion to methyl methacrylate. The industrial standard for a practical catalyst is conversion of acetone cyanohydrin into methyl methacrylate in the span of a minute or two, Tyler said.

Related Stories

(Phys.org) -- Fossil-based resources are declining and their use releases the greenhouse gas CO2. Both of these problems could be significantly mitigated if we could use CO2 as a carbon source for the production of fuels ...

Ohio State University engineers have developed a chemical catalyst that increases hydrogen production without using a toxic metal common to other catalysts.
Though the new catalyst is still in the early stages of testing, ...

(PhysOrg.com) -- Over 80% of the worlds energy demands continue to be met with fossil fuels. The environmental problems associated with this, such as global warming, are well-known. The efficient supply of energy based on ...

(Phys.org) -- A chemical reaction reported by University of Delaware assistant professor Donald Watson and his laboratory group has set the chemistry world abuzz for its creativity and potential utility.

University of Alberta Chemistry Professor Steve Bergens and his graduate student Jeremy Johns have discovered a catalyst that has the potential to revolutionise the chemical industry by reducing its environmental footprint, ...

Recommended for you

New research led by scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) reveals that a human enzyme has changed little from its days as a bacterial enzyme. In fact, the enzyme appears to be unique in its ability to change ...

Cancer researchers and drug companies may have been too quick to ignore a promising line of inquiry that targets a specific cell protein, according to a research team led by a biomedical scientist in the School of Medicine ...

The storage of photogenerated electric energy and its release on demand are still among the main obstacles in artificial photosynthesis. One of the most promising, recently identified photocatalytic new materials is inexpensive ...

(Phys.org)—A team of researchers with UT Southwestern Medical Center and the University of Chicago has developed a new imaging technique that may give scientists a relatively simple means to unravel which parts of proteins ...

In the atmosphere, feldspar particles act as ice nuclei that make ice crystals grow in clouds and enable precipitation. The discovery was made by researchers of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and University College ...